Saturday, October 3rd Update

Today was a really good day. This week has been a long one... It's been discouraging that Cooper seemed to be taking a step backwards by not pooping, and Taylor had an incredibly intense week with 3 midterms and preparing to take the LSAT this morning. However, today Cooper pooped on his own! 3 times! Taylor took the LSAT, and while I'm sure he did very well, one way or the other it's over. :)

It's also General Conference weekend, one of my very favorite weekends of the year. I believe this was the first conference weekend in my entire life that I wasn't at home, enjoying donuts (a Hyde family conference tradition) and watching the messages being shared live. Instead, I listened to part of it on the radio while making the 40 minute drive to the hospital. I watched the sustaining of 3 new apostles on my phone while I sat in the pumping room. And now Taylor and I are watching it together before we go to bed. I will never forget our NICU General Conference weekend, and I'm so grateful for the inspiring messages being shared!

Cooper had a good day! Like I mentioned before, he pooped! I asked Taylor if he wanted to change the poopy diaper this evening, and he respectfully declined. :) Cooper is up to having 36 MLs of milk every 3 hours, which is a little more than an ounce! He just has a little ways to go before he's up the full amount they want him to be taking every three hours, and then we'll really focus on him taking all feeds by mouth. Right now he's taking about half through his NG tube, and half in a bottle. He's getting stronger and building up his stamina each day. We're so grateful for the progress he is making! A few days ago when I said that he might be ready to come home in a week or two may have been optimistic. But we're getting there :)